Fax Machine
by BlueStripedPolo
Summary: AU; eleven years in future. Twoshot. Max and Fang both work as secretaries for the same company, and are best friends after a few years of faxing back and forth, when Max goes up to New York for their company's annual convention. The rest is up to Fang.
1. Chapter 1

**Fax Machine**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**Author's Note: Haven't written anything in a long time. I was going to write a Pokemon story throughout the course of the summer, but, I didn't. Maybe later. I've been trying to write Pokemon, but it's not coming easily. This, however, is. I've had this idea for awhile and started writing it the other day. It'll only be a twoshot, but I really hope you guys'll review with lots of CC!**

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My morning had been terrible. It all really started with the previous night, I guess. It had been storming, so of _course_ whenever I was about to fall asleep, there would be an exceptionally loud thunderclap or a bright blast of lightning.

So I "woke up" grumpy that Friday morning to the neighbor's "dog" yipping. I lived in an apartment, so they weren't even supposed to _have_ a dog. It wasn't even a real dog. It was one of those Mexican dogs with big ears that lets people dress it up and paint its nails.

I rolled out of bed and hopped into the shower, only to be blasted with cold water. I gritted my teeth and vowed to move into a real house as soon as possible.

After my rushed shower I discovered that I only had clean skirts, which I hate. I put on my favorite one, a mini-khaki and rooted through my closet before finding an okay white, button-up, short-sleeved shirt that my mom bought me.

I went back into the bathroom and shook out my hair before brushing it, then groaned when I saw my face in the mirror.

I looked like the top model for the living undead, which stunk because I did _not_ feel like primping.

So, I didn't, and put on socks and tennis shoes before grabbing my purse and heading out the door, and then was in between my two least favorite neighbors.

The neighbor on my left was a crazy old lady named Alice, who sometimes played heavy metal or weird nature music at three in the morning. And sometimes she would bring over broccoli casserole, which I _hate_ and force me to watch bad soap operas with her.

And, speaking of soap operas, that's what the neighbors on the right were. They seemed like a normal family on the surface, but, if theywere _actually_ a normal family, then I do _not_ want a family of my own someday. The parents were constantly arguing, and so were the two children. And, the oldest son and the parents were, too. He was kind of a rebel.

Anyway, I got into the elevator with Alice and the mother of my right neighbors, Laura, who was dressed in a woman's suit.

"Good morning, Max," she greeted warmly. "That was some storm last night, huh?"

"Tell me about it," I replied. "I didn't get any sleep."

"I can tell," Alice put in. "You look like the poster zombie for Zombies Gone Wild; the Revenge of Consuela's Sister-in-law. I'll tell you what, I'll bring it over tonight with some of my broccoli casserole and we can watch it tonight."

"Um, no thanks, I have to pack to head up to the city tonight," I said, quickly stepping out of the elevator when the doors opened. Laura and I stepped out, but Alice simply laughed and pushed the floor three button, waving at us.

When Laura and I got outside, we went our separate ways, and the rest of the morning was uneventful. I stopped and ate breakfast at my favorite cafe, as was my routine, then continued on to the office building where I worked as a secretary on the first floor.

I sat down and turned on my computer, dropping my purse under my desk. As the computer hummed awake, I spun around in my chair and went over to the fax machine that sat behind me, hoping to have a fax from Fang.

I did, and I quickly grabbed the warm piece of paper before going back to my desk and whipping out a pen.

_Mornin' Max. What kind of coffee do you like best? Anything interesting happen with the neighbors?_

Fang thought my neighbors were hilarious. He liked Alice and Poncho Panya Sombrero the Third the best, though.

I wrote back in my loopy handwriting, which always looked weird next to his chicken scratch marks that he claimed were actually letters.

_We've already had the coffee conversation, correct? But, anyway, I guess I like Starbucks frapuccinos. The regular kind, or any of those new fancy ones. You know me, I'm a sucker for frozen coffee._

_Oh, the neighbors were a riot this morning. Especially your two favorites. Alice told me that I look like the "poster zombie" for "Zombie's Gone Wild; the Revenge of Consuela's Sister-in-law". Before that, Poncho Panya Sombrero the Third had woken me up yipping. Probably at a bird or something._

_But there. That was my morning in a nutshell._

I turned back to the big machine and entered Fang's fax machine code, and then sent the fax. On my computer, I pulled up my game of Solitare from the previous day and got a notepad ready to write down voicemail messages down with. I moved around a few cards before I heard my dinosaur of a fax machine start wheezing, and I waited for the many pieces of paper to finish sending before taking it off the tray, and was mildly disappointed when I saw it was something I needed to take to my boss.

Sighing, I got up and went into the elevator onto the next floor, where the main office was. All the salesman worked up there, along with Mr. Rennings, the boss. HR and I were on the bottom floor, along with the conference room and break room.

"Come in," Mr. Rennings called after I knocked on his office door, and I entered.

"Max," Mr. Rennings said, smiling. "What do you have for me today?"

"Well, to be honest, I'm not exactly sure what this is. Confirmation day was yesterday, but I'll just let you read it," I said, handing him the packet before leaving and heading back downstairs.

When I got back down there, Fang had faxed me back, and I took the message happily.

_Did she really? Man, that's rich! You'll have to introduce me someday... so, we need to meet up at this convention thing tomorrow._

I grinned, and wrote back under his message.

_Oh, totally. It'll be fun... having never seen each other before. And, I swear, Fang, if you're some weirdo old guy..._

I sent the message and seem that I almost immediately got a reply.

_I swear I'm not! I'm twenty-six, just like you! Pretty good-looking, actually. Putting my good looks aside, it'll be me, you in a conference room with other secretaries' and a few hellos. And some muffins. Blueberry's your favorite, right?_

I grinned, excited to finally meet him after three years of faxing. And I was happy he remembered stuff like that.

_Yeah, I like blueberry muffins. But, if you make them... I'm not sure I'll eat them._

I didn't get a reply for a few minutes, and I guessed he was actually, gasp! Working. I took advantage of that time to scrawl down a few messages and start write a new email to Mr. Rennings. That "compose mail" button on Gmail always cracks me up. It just does.

And, then I finally got my reply from Fang.

_What? I'm a good cook! Better than you, anyway. Which, you know, isn't saying much. But, still. I make really good blueberry muffins. _

I internally groaned and laughed, and I knew huge smile broke out across my face. Why in the world did I every tell him about my cooking attempts?

_I'll be the judge of that_, I replied before going back to Solitare.

"Hey, Max," a familiar woman's voice asked and I could hear light footsteps getting closer.

"Yeah, Jenna?" I asked the woman, who happened to be a friend of mine.

"We need to update our records for the convention tomorrow, so we're doing that now, and you're first up," she explained, with the smile she always wore, and I got up.

"Let's go," I said, following her into a private cubicle.

Awhile later, after answering a bunch of questions, I sort of let my mind go on cruise control, and I didn't really pay any attention to the questions she was asking until she asked this one question.

"What's your favorite color?"

"What?"

"C'mon," Jenna said, smiling even bigger than usual. "It's important."

"Uh, brown, I guess. What kind of questions have you been asking me?"

"Well, your favorite animal is a cat, and you can't stand chihuahuas, apparently. Um... if you ever had a twin boy and girl, you'd name them Anakin and Padme because Luke and Leia is too cliché. And, you really have a thing for egg chairs, don't you?"

I gave her a weird look and she laughed. "Well, when I asked you about your relationship status and you told me you'd been divorced three times and had ten kids, I had to take advantage of that."

I laughed. "Did I really?"

Jenna nodded. "We're done here, Max. Go take care of those kiddies! And try to make this relationship work!" She called out teasingly as we left the cubicle.

"Shh! Jenna, someone might hear you!" I whisper-yelled, looking around. She just kept laughing as she went back into her HR office and I went back to my desk with a new fax from Fang.

_You made me laugh. And the whole office looked at me funny. Thanks. Anyway, what's happening?_

I smiled, and clicked my ballpoint pen with the bobbly top.

_Well, thanks to Jenna, I just learned some interesting fun facts about myself._

I sent the message through, and I guessed Fang wasn't working anymore, because I only got a few sentences in on my email to Mr. Rennings before I had a new fax message. And I'm a fast typer.

_Do share. If Jenna's involved... it has to be good._

_Oh_, I replied. _You'll think it's rich. So, throughout this mandatory HR update, Jenna figured out that I love cats, and can't stand chihuahuas. And, if I ever have a twin boy and girl, I'd name them Anakin and Padme because Luke and Leia is just _too_ cliché. And, apparently, I love egg chairs._

I sent the fax, then turned back around to my email and I guessed Fang was back to work, because it was several minutes before he faxed me back.

_I get the whole chihuahua thing, because of Poncho Panya Sombrero the Third who's haunted your nightmares since 1993, but... okay, I gotta go. We've been setting up for the thing tomorrow, and I've been making up excuses to come up here to use the fax machine, and Mr. Larn is coming over here. See you tomorrow!_

I chose not to reply back, and then finished up my email to Mr. Rennings before playing Solitare, determined to finish a game. 

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**Author's Note: And, I think I'll end it right there. Yeah, I know, it's really bad, right? Hopefully, the next chapter****(that you will hopefully read) will be better... and up tomorrow or Saturday. So... give me some constructive criticism? Please? Oh, and, does anyone else have problems spelling criticism? Me and that word don't get along.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Fax Machine**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.**

**Author's Note: A special thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited and alerted! I have _never_ gotten such a _big_ immediate response! Thanks, again! And, here's the second at last chapter to this twoshot! I really hope this is a lot better. I did some research on this, so, it didn't turn out _exactly_ the way I wanted, but pretty dang close. And accurate. So, here goes! Oh, and thanks for reading!**

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_No, Jenna_, I texted the middle-aged woman, _I haven't found him yet. I don't know what he looks like, remember?_

"Hey," a woman about my age greeted me with a smile. "I'm Carrie."

"I'm Max," I replied.

"Nice to meet you. Where are you from? I haven't seen you here before."

"Yeah, this is my first time up here. I'm from by Lake Eerie in Ohio."

"Oh! I absolutely _love_ going there! My grandparents live there, so, I spent like _every_ summer there."

"Yeah, I like it there, too," I replied warmly, and Carrie started to talk some more, and I listened, enjoying her company.

A few minutes later, a someone tapped on a microphone and we all turned to see who it was on the "stage", which was really just a stool.

"Now that have everyone's attention, take your seats. The secretary training is about to start, so, pull out your notebooks and pens." At that, a few people laughed, and Carrie rolled her eyes.

"The secretary "training" isn't much," Carrie confided. "Basically, we just go over sending emails, answering phones and faxing by internet," she whispered.

"My name is Jim, and I'll pretty much be running this thing, and hopefully, by the end of this training session, you will be a better and more confident you. Now, the first PowerPoint we have is how to create an agenda, which is probably one of the things we secretaries will do most in our secretarial careers." I decided then that I liked Jim; he seemed funny.

Two hours later, we had gone over creating agendas and scheduling basics along with a little bit about taking notes and some new technologies our company might be implementing.

And, I _still_ didn't know who Fang was. I racked my brain for his real name, and I remembered that he mentioned his name was actually Nick Castello on the first day we started talking. Taking a deep breath, I turned to Carrie.

"What branch do you come from?"

"From here! We have like, five different secretaries. Yeah, Mr. Larn likes organization."

"Yeah, I can tell," I replied. "Hey, would you happen to know Nick Castello?"

"Of course!' She replied. "But- oh, duh!" She exclaimed. "You're _the_ Max! He was totally, like, OCD about every detail of this thing! He even made blueberry muffins- oops! I wasn't supposed to tell you that. Well, c'mon!" She said, standing up suddenly. "Let's go find him!" She grabbed my wrist and started leading me through waves of people, until she stopped behind a group and waited before tapping a tall guy's shoulder.

"Hey, Nick!" She said.

"Hey, Carrie," he replied in a gruff voice.

"This is Max!" She exclaimed happily, and I nodded.

"See? I'm not some creepy old guy," Fang said, smiling, and I rolled my eyes. Carrie smiled at us and left.

"Ready to go?" Fang asked.

"Go where?"

"What? You didn't think that I would let you leave NYC without having seen the Statue of Liberty at very least, did you?"

"I guess not," I said, then followed him out the door. He waved down a taxi, and then we were headed to the South Ferry. When we got there, I followed Fang through the lines, and he led us onto the ferry that would take us to the Statue of Liberty.

Once the ferry started to move, Fang suddenly grinned at me- well, it was more of a smirk, really, but I had never figured him as the grinning type.

"Wanna go out on the deck?"

"Go out on the deck? Fang, what _are_ you talking about?"

"You've never been on a ferry?" He asked in mild disbelief, with a little bit of amusement.

"No."

"You live on Lake Eerie."

"Well, it's not like there's some statue in the middle of it."

"Okay, okay," Fang said, holding his hands up. "I get it. New York is freaky." A pause. "So, do you want to?"

"Yeah," I replied, and Fang smirked again, and when he stood up, I realized how out-of-place we looked in work clothes.

I followed him out onto the deck and was almost blinded by the bright afternoon sun. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust, but when they did, I leaned against the railing with Fang, watching the _Anne Austen_ ferry leave water tracks behind.

"So, how long is this ferry ride anyway?"

"Impatient much?" Fang retorted, and I elbowed him. "It's about twenty-five minutes to Ellis Island, where we'll get off, but then it'll continue to New Jersey, then come back for us."

I nodded, and we stood in comfortable silence until it was time to get off to go see the Statue of Liberty with all the other tourists.

"Whoa," I breathed. "It's huge."

"Max, it's one-hundred fifty-one feet tall and weighs four-hundred fifty _pounds. _Of course it's huge."

I rolled my eyes. "And how do you know?"

He looked at me seriously. "Wikipedia is a great thing."

I rolled my eyes again, smiling though, and we continued to walk around the statue. "Could we go to the top?"

"If we had about forty minutes. But, we've got other stuff to do."

"Oh? Like what?" I asked, looking up at him.

"You'll see." I didn't reply, just continued walking with him around Lady Liberty, looking up in awe.

"It's amazing," I said. "When did they build this? Like, the eighteen-nineties or something?"

"Early eighteen-sixties and was finished in eighteen eighty-six."

"And they did it without modern technologies. Like bulldozers or those tall things that lift stuff-"

"Cranes?"

"That sounds right. Isn't it neat to think about how they did that?"

"I guess," Fang replied, and I glared up at him. He ignored me and we finished our walk, and then headed back to the dock, where we could see the ferry coming back.

About a half hour later, it was three o'clock, and my stomach was growling. Also, we were in another taxi, and Fang had whispered to the guy where to go, so I _still_ didn't know where we were going.

Needless to say, I was grumpy.

"Can't you just tell me?"

"Nope," he replied, popping the "p" annoyingly. "That would ruin the surprise."

I groaned, but leaned my head against the window in defeat. Fang could be _really_ stubborn and annoying when he wanted to.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed some time later. "Fang! Rockefeller Center?"

"Yup," he said, grinning an actual grin at me as the taxi stopped and Fang and I climbed out.

"Where are we going first?" I asked, excited.

"We're going to get you some food, because grumpy Max will be the death of me." Fang paid the taxi, and I nodded, looking up at the huge building. I followed him into the building, and we went up and elevator all the way to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, my stomach hungrily growling.

When we got out of the elevator, I looked around in awe at all the different statues, and Fang tugged my arm.

"Food now, gazing in awe later."

I rolled my eyes and followed him up to a restaurant called "Tri Tip Grill". The line was _really_ long and I was a little uncertain that we would be eating soon, but, surprisingly enough the line moved really quickly, and we were soon placing our orders.

"I'll have a Bacon Cheddar Burger and Roadhouse Onions," Fang said, and then looked at me.

"Um, I'll have that Bacon Cheddar Burger, too." The guy put our order down, and we moved so that other people could place an order, and Fang looked at me.

"_Just_ a burger?"

I shrugged. "I'll just steal some of those Roadhouse Onions from you."

"Unbelievable," he muttered.

"So, where do we go for drinks?"

"Well, I was thinking Starbucks, but-"

"Oh, no. To Starbucks it is."

Fang smirked and we took our orders a few minutes later and headed out and Fang led me to Starbucks, which was a familiar sight that I had missed.

"Hello, may I take your order?" The pretty blonde girl asked warmly.

"Yes, I'll have the Extra Coffee Caramel Frappuccino."

"And, what about you, sir?" The girl asked, looking up at Fang.

"The same."

"What?" I exclaimed. "You hate frozen coffee!"

Fang just simply shrugged. "I just want to see what the craze is all about." The girl laughed and told us our total, and I frowned.

"I'm paying for this," I informed Fang.

"Oh, no you're not," Fang replied. "You don't have any money."

"Yes, I do," I quickly replied. "It's in my purse... which I left at the hotel." Fang chuckled as I sighed in defeat, and we moved down to wait for our order to be filled.

"Well, I'm paying you back for everything."

"Mhm," Fang hummed patronizingly, not believing me.

I decided that he knew I was right and grabbed my coffee when I saw it, holding it in one hand, and my dinner in the other. I laughed as I watched Fang try to pick up his coffee, holding two boxes already.

"Here," I said, placing my dinner on top of his before taking his coffee, "you take dinner, I'll hold the coffees. Okay?"

"Doesn't seem like I have much choice," he grumbled and I grinned as I turned around, then realized I wasn't in my city; I had no clue where to go. Fang smirked and walked ahead of me, so I had no choice but to follow him to a place with lots of tables. He sat down at one, and passed my burger to me and I handed him his coffee.

After we had everything set up, I looked at him.

"Drink it," I urged, and he rolled his eyes, and took a dramatic first sip. He didn't say anything, his facial expression didn't change or anything; he just took a bite of his burger like it was no big deal.

"So, how was it?" I asked.

"It was okay," he replied nonchalantly.

"Okay? _Okay?_" I asked again in disbelief. "Fang, you just had your first _frozen coffee_, and you're acting like it was no-"

"Fine. I guess it was pretty good," and I leaned back in my seat, satisfied.

"Told you." He rolled his eyes, and I grinned before starting to eat.

Once we were done and had thrown our garbage away, I asked Fang, "where to now?"

It seemed like we went _everywhere_ after that. To the Lego store (which was actually pretty cool), and then to the Channel Gardens, and we even saw a few of the more popular statues before we went window shopping. Eventually, though, we ended up in Central Park.

It was really relaxing, especially at later night. We entered the park at the south end, and as we were walking through, Fang was pointing out the pond almost right by the entrance, and he pointed out different flowers and trees to me, too. After we crossed over sixty-fifth street, we walked for a bit longer, then Fang pointed out our destination.

"And, that, is our final destination for the night."

"Really? A lake?"

"You'll see," he replied. We walked all the around the lake, which was pretty far, let me tell you, but I'd say its worth it. To see the bright moon reflect off the dark water and light up the whole world around you, and the traffic and noise of the city fades into the dark. It's a timeless, enchanted sort of place that a little girl might imagine fairies lived in.

We came around about to the northern tip of the lake, and Fang pointed out a restaurant to me.

"That is where we're going. The Central Park Boathouse Restaurant."

"It sounds expensive," I said, frowning.

"It's okay. You're paying me back, right?" I could hear Fang grinning, and I elbowed him in the side. He laughed and led me around to the front of the building, and when the hostess asked where we wanted to be seated, Fang immediately told her the lakeside. She smiled at us and led us out on the dock, right on the lake to a candlelit table because it was dark out.

"Your server Jason will be with you shortly," she said, smiling at us before leaving.

"So, New York City. Like it?" Fang asked as we leafed through the menus.

"Yeah. Usually I don't like loud places, but, the city is pretty cool. Thanks for taking me on a personal tour today, by the way."

Fang waved me off. "It was nothing. I had fun, too."

"Hello," a nasally voice greeted us, and I looked up to see our server. "My name is Jason and I'll be your server today. Are you ready to order?"

"I'll have some water, thanks," Fang said.

"Me, too," I agreed, skimming the dinner part of the menu.

"I'll be back in a few minutes to take your orders, so be ready," Jason said rudely before walking off.

"I really don't like him," I confided to Fang in a whisper.

"Me either," Fang said, lowering his voice.

A few minutes later, Jason was back with our water. He set it down in front of us, then asked,

"are you guys ready to order yet?"

"I'll have the Pan Seared Colorado Rack of Lamb," Fang said quickly before I could get too annoyed. "How about you Max?"

"Hm... gosh, I just don't know! Everything looks so good! I skimmed the page for a few more seconds before saying, "I guess I'll have the House Made Cavatelli Pasta."

"You know that's an appetizer, right, ma'm?"

"Yeah. I know." Jason brushed hair out of his face in an impatient way, then wrote down my order before walking our menus back to the kitchen.

"Max, why'd you do that?"

"What? He was getting on my nerves." Fang chuckled, and we watched a family of ducks go by, the mom in front, the four ducklings following.

We talked about Carrie and Jenna and other co-workers, sharing stories, just to talk about something, not for gossip, and soon Jason came back with our orders. He placed Fang's Colorado lamb in front of him, and my long-noodled pasta in front of me.

"Have you ever even seen that show?" I asked Fang.

"I've seen two episodes. Jim and Pam are best friends."

"Oh. Well, what's the show called again?"

"The Office."

"Oh, right. Well, I'll have to watch it when I get back to Lake-" I stopped talking when a noodle fell out of my mouth onto my chin. But, before I could even react, Fang had put the other end of the noodle in his mouth and I just watched, my brain having gone dead, as he ate the other end until he was leaning across the table, his lips on mine.

And I suddenly knew my mom was right about my needing to find a man.

Someone harrumphed, and Fang quickly sat down back down, and I looked away, embarrassed.

"Well," Jason said in his nasally voice, "it seems you two don't need anything." And then he walked away, leaving us alone again.

I suddenly laughed, breaking the awkwardness of the moment, and Fang joined in.

"Okay, so, yeah," I said, taking a deep breath before going back to my cavatelli. Fang didn't say anything, but when I looked into his deep brown eyes, I knew what he was thinking, and I knew then that I didn't want any other man.

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**Author's Note: I'm actually not happy with how this turned out. Let me know what you think, and thanks again for reviewing, favoriting and alerting! And, a oneshot about how Fang and Max first met is up on my profile! It's called "I Thought You Were Weird"! See you there?**


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